Daniela Simic at C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library in Tampa, Florida on July 9, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
For now, Hillsborough County’s School Board races are non-partisan. Party lines may play into voters’ decision-making this fall when it comes to the school board’s District 2 seat.
Daniela Simic earned 39% of the vote in Tuesday’s election while Brittany Lyssy got 37%. The showing was good enough to earn both a spot in the runoff which wraps on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Simic is a registered Democrat while Lyssy is the former president of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans.
Lyssy, a graduate of Stetson University College of Law and member of the Florida Bar, reported nearly $77,760 in contributions for her school board race. Simic had $47,748.47 while the third-place finisher in the race, Chris Taylor, reported $62,230.
Reached by phone on Wednesday afternoon, Simic—who’s been an educator for 25 years including time as a county assistant superintendent—stayed on the message she’s shared since filing in February.
“I have spent my entire life in the field of education,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, mentioning her work across the state from Miami to Duval County where she’s navigated budgets for both government and for-profit entities.
Heavily involved in the education of a 10-year-old that attends Hillsborough public school, Simic said that her son has access to so many resources, which was not the case in many of the schools she worked in. She is the vice president of advocacy at her son’s PTA, teaching parents to advocate for themselves, but told CL that the concept of “parental choice” often leaves out an important population.
“There are so many kids in our schools who have no one advocating for them, who were not born into a life of privilege, who do not have support systems in place, and the only place, the only hope for them, is their schools, and that’s what public school is supposed to be about,” Simic added. “It’s supposed to be giving every child that chance at being successful in life.”
State legislators, she said, are busy preempting what local school boards can do. “That’s why I decided to run for school board, to be that last line of defense before it hits our teachers in our district and our kids,” she added.
In March, Simic and other school board members were asked about a bill that would ask voters if Hillsborough superintendent should be an elected position rather than one appointed by the school board.
Simic disagreed with the idea.
“You need someone who understands what it’s like to go through that, to be an educator, to be a school leader, to be a district leader. And having a politician – someone that may not have experienced that – would likely not be a good decision for the school district,” Simic told Tampa Tiger Bay Club.
That sentiment was shared by every other candidate at the March forum, which Lyssy did not attend. Divya Kumar reports that Lyssy, who has three young sons, supports the amendment that will ask voters to make Hillsborough’s superintendent an elected position.
Lyssy could not be reached for comment on that issue and another one that plagued her candidacy.
Election paperwork filed by Lyssy shows her registered to vote at a 684-square-foot downtown Tampa apartment registered to her husband, Douglas Lyssy. He is registered to vote as an NPA in Manatee County where one of his Longboat Key properties is homesteaded, according to the tax collector’s office.
A 2022 wedding announcement said, “Doug and Brittany intend to remain full time residents of the island and look forward to many more celebrations with the Longboat Key community.”
The couple has its name on another Manatee County property just two miles away.
An unbylined July story in the Observer says Lyssy and Doug are raising their three sons in Hillsborough County.
Simic didn’t directly address the subject of where Lyssy might live, instead going back to her campaign stump speech about boosting public schools, increasing teacher retention and pay, dealing with enrollment issues and expanding children’s access to a great education.
“I really don’t think the things that I say are on the right or on the left. I think that they are common sense. I think that anybody who cares about schools, anybody who cares about kids, just cares about kids in general, would agree with the things I’m saying,” Simic said. “I don’t think it’s a Republican thing. I don’t think it’s a Democrat thing. It’s just a human thing.”
In the race for Hillsborough school board’s District 6 seat, incumbent Karen Perez, who earned 48% of the vote and nearly avoided a runoff, will face Kenneth “Ken” Gay (27%) who worked in public education for 39 years before retiring in 2022.
This article appears in August 13 – 19, 2026.
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